Adjustable insole



Oct. 5,1926. 1,602,323

R. T. BENNING ADJUSTABLE INSOLE Filed Oct. 13, 1924 INVENTOR NITNESS:

Patented Oct. 5, i926.

RALPH'T. BENNING, OF BIRMINGHAM,

ALABAMA.

ADJUSTABLE INSOLE.

Application filed October 13, 1924. Serial No. 743,363.

One object'of my present invention is the provision of an adjustable shoe bottomi. e., a shoe bottom adapted to be adjusted to fit the shoe to any metatarsal defect of the person who is to wear the shoe.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shoe bottom adapted to be accommo dated to a heel defect of the person who is to wear the shoe.

Other objects and practical advantages of the invention will be fully understood from the following description and claim when the same are read in connection with the drawings, accompanying and forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a horizontal section of a shoe embodying my novel bottom.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the shoe with a portion of the im provement raised.

Figure 3 comprises disconnected views showing one metatarsal adjusting member.

Figure 4 is a perspective showing one heel ad'usting member. v imilar numerals designate corresponding parts in all of theviews of the drawings.

The shoe shown in the drawing is built about an insole 1 and in accordance with my invention a thin leather covering 2 is provided for the insole throughout the area thereof. The said covering is permanently secured to the insole at its forward portion only by a line of stitching 16 about the edge thereof and also by stitching 17 arranged substantially centrally of the forward portion and between the side edges of said-covering as best shown in Figure 1 of the drawings. The said covering 2 has secured thereto in a manner 'to lie between the insole and the covering; a'thin piece of leather 3 which extends from the heel to the ball of'the foot and is secured to said covering adjacent its intermediate portion by stitching 4, 5 and 18 which is arranged in substantially triangular formation. The thin piece of leather 3 is further secured to the covering 2 at also by stitching 19 along the edge thereof.

The piece of thin material is slitted as at 20- in a manner to follow the curvature of the stitching 18 and to form the mouth of a pocket 21 which is provided between the covering2 and the thin piece of leather by the stitches 6 and 19 as suggested in Figure 1. The said pocket is readily accessible when the rear'portion of the covering 2 and thin members 15 is shown correctly piece of leather is raised as shown in Fig ure 2.

Pockets are also provided between the cov- .ering 2 and the thin piece of leather 3 at opposite sides ofa longitudinal line of stitches 8 connecting the elements 2 and 3, and in either of the said pockets may be placed a heel adjusting-member 7 of leather "or other appropriate'material such as shown in Figure 4. By the said arrangement of a member such as 7 in one of the said pockets at opposite sides of the line of stitching 8 the shoe bottom may be adjusted to provide for a heel defect of a person who is to wear the shoe. The pockets referred to are designated by 22 and one of the same is shown in Figure 2.

In the longitudinal center of the insole 1 are provided male snap fastener members 9, and at the underside of the connected elements 2 and 3 are provided female snap fastener members 10. By virtue'of this construction it will be manifest that the connected elements 2 and 3 may be secured down upon the insole 1 without liability of casual I release, and yet when it is desired to raise the rear portion of the covering 2 and the thin piece of leather 3 the same may be readily accomplished by exerting suflicient upward pull on the said connected elements 2 and 3 to disengage the fastener members I 10 from the complementary members 9.

The pocket 21 may be properly designated ametatarsal pocket inasmuch as it is designed to receive. one or more metatarsal adjusting members 15. One of the said members 15 is shown in plan and diametrical section in Figure 3, and by reference to said figure it will be understood that the member 15 is generally circular in outline and is of approximate convex-plano form. The members-l5 are formed of soft rubber or of any other material appropriate to their purpose and are designed when the connected elements 2 and 3 are positioned as shown in Figure 2 to be placed in the said metatarsal its extreme forward edge by stitching 6 and pocket with a view to remedying any meta- .tarsal defect that may occur in theperson who is to wear the shoe.

as shown in Figure 2 for the placing of a member such as 7 in one of the pockets 22 after which the connected members 2 and 3 may be adjusted downwardly upon and connected by the snap fasteners to the insole 1. Again it will be understood that when the connected elements 2 and 3 are raised as shown in Figure 2 one or more of the members 15 may be positioned in the pocket 21 according to the metatarsal defect that is to be corrected by the member 15.

Manifestly when all of the parts of my improvement are positioned as shown in Figure 1 and the members 15 and 7 are omitted, the shoe bottom will present the appearance shown in Figure 1 and may beworn with comfort by a person having no foot defect.

I have specifically described the preferred embodiment of my invention in order to impart an exact understanding of said embodiment. I do not desire, however, to be understood as confining myself to the construction. disclosed inasmuch as the scope of my invention is defined by my appended claim within which changes or modifications may be made without departure from my invention.

Having described my invention, what l claim -and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is

A shoe bottom of the character described comprising an insole, a covering superposed on the insole and having its forward portion permanently secured thereto adjacent the forward edges of'the covering and centrally between the forward edges, means for detachably holding the remaining portion of the covering to the insole, a piece of thin material disposed under and connected to the covering by a centrally disposed longitudinal line of stitching and also by stitching adjacent thecentral portion of the cover'ing and through the extreme forward edge of the piece of thin material, said longitudinally disposed line of stitches forming pockets for receiving pad members for remedying heel defects, and said piece of thin, material adjacent its forward end being slit transversely to form a pocket disposed between the covering and material adapted to receive metatarsal adjusting members.

In testimony whereof I aifizi my signature.

RALPH T. BENNING-. 

